


That Breathing Thing

by tinx_r



Category: Riptide (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-20
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2018-01-20 03:03:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1494232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinx_r/pseuds/tinx_r
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How does Nick feel when Cody dates girls?</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Breathing Thing

She's pretty. Brunette, boobs, butt. Big hair, big lips. It all checks out.

Damn her to hell and back.

He's mine, see. It's not like she's gonna change that with her pouty little smile, the shake and curve of her ass, those come-on vixen eyes. All she's gonna do is waste her time and run a dagger or three up inside my heart, my guts, my lungs.

After the tenth time, gets so you learn to breathe around 'em.

Except Cody, he doesn't learn so easy. Each time, every time, he lets them reel him in, string him along. Carve off a piece of him for their trophy cupboard.

Leave him bleeding in the road when they're done, when they realize he's not so easy to leash as he looks. 

I don't want him leashed. I want him free and clear, alive right down inside, at my side of his own free choice. Most times he wants that, too.

Right up until his mom calls, or some insurance agent on TV says something cheesy on a late night ad. Or some cozy armful shakes her tits just right, holds out the newest-model, argyle-plated, smartly-pinstriped leash.

Some of those things come with pop-up picket fences, I heard.

A line like that, Murray locks up the vodka and my gun. He's getting shrewd, these days. Not much gets past him anymore. 'Cept Cody. He gets past all of us. 'Specially me.

That's the dumb thing. I know everything about the guy. What he wants, how he wants it. How to love him, how to hurt him, how to heal him, even.

The one thing I never learned is how to stand in his way.

Whatever he wants, I'm good for. It's a curse, but it's mine, and so's he, in every way that really matters. 

She'll get his body tonight, but nothing more. He gave me his heart a decade back, but his soul's been mine forever, and always will. 

That breathing thing. Still hurts, you know?


End file.
